Peters



, @latten tats strnt @ffice GEORGE EDMUND DONlS-THRPE, OF LEEDS, ENGLAND.

' Letters Patent No. .76,419, dated April 7, 1868 patented n England, .March S, 1866.

"tite .Stlgetnlenfernt tu in tlpse Etnias ttmt mit mitnimmt at tige sine.

TO ALL TO WHQM IT MAY CONCERN-:

Beit known that I, GERGE EDMUND D0NIST II0RPE,`0` L oeds,.in the'county of York, England, a subject of 'the Queen ofGrcat Britain, have invented or discovered new and useful Improvements in Machinery for Cutting Coalj.Y and I, the said GEORGnEDMUND DoNISTHonPE, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention, and in .what manner the same isto be performed, vto be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof;l that is to sayi This invention has for its object improvements in machinery forcutting coal. In coal-cutting by machinery, it is now usual to employ a carriage with the cutter and apparatus mounted upon it, and this carriage travels. kvalong rails laid along the face of' the coal; hence it results that the cut is made in a line parallel to the rails, except in/sp far as the line of cut may be varied by hand-adjustment. New, in place of following the line of the rails, which, as the rails are rigid, is approximately -a straight line, it is usually required that the cut should follow accurately the line of the root` or floorlof 4the working. This being so, I, according to my invention, employ the root` or Hoor as a guide .for the cutter. This I prefer to do by mounting on the carriage,.as I have heretofore practised, an' air-cylinder with a piston or plunger in it, which, when air isfadmitted to the cylinder, presses a roller orV rollers firmly against the roof, so as to steady thecarriageibetween-the'railsand roof, but in place of, as heretofore', mounting the cutting-apparatus on the carriage, which runs on and is guided by the rails, I tix it toI or connect Ait with the rising and falling piston or plunger, which is pressed constantly up towards theroof, as already czrpla'ined.y By this means the groove formed by thecutting-apparatus maypver'y readily he made close up to the roofof the mine,v in place of at the door of the mine, as heretofore usual. i The cuttingapparatus which I prefer to employ, is an air-cylinder andpiston, giving a rectilinear motion to a cutter or. cutters ,fixed to'the piston=rod. Thesame carriage may have two or more sets of cutting-apparatus mounted upon it. Itis evident that in a sim'ilar manner the cutting-apparatus may be guided from thefloor, 'but not, I think, so conveniently.V Similar arrangements are appliciable where water under pressure is used as the motivepower. In the drawings hereunto annexed, I .have shown, at-

lFigure 1, a side view, and at l Figure 2 aplan of a machine, in which the cutting-apparatus'is carried by the piston or plunger of an air= cylinder, as above described.

In each of these views the machine is'shown to be supported -on rails attached to iron sleepers or bearers.-

The machine is composed of a frame, a, supported on wheels b, which run on the rails c c. The frame a has brackets d projecting out from it, which carry a worm, e. This worm gears with the rack formed in the face 'of the rail cand is for the purpose of moving forward the machine. The gearing for transmitting motion to theworm e from the hand-wheelsfis clearly shown in the drawings. Ateach ofthe four corners of the frame d is a hollow upright, y. 'Ihese uprightsiform guides, on which a bed or plate, h, that carries the cuttings apparatus, is capable of rising and falling. Where the uprightsg pass through the plate bbsses, h', are formed cuits under side, in order that the plate may rise`and fall truly. Upon the centre ofthe carriage a is fixed au air-cylinder,1c, fitted with a piston or plunger, 7c,upon thetop ot' which the plateh rests. Compressed 'air can be admitted` in-to the cylinder below the piston or plunger, through the exible pipe Z, which, by a union joint,iZ, is connected with a pipe passing from the bottom of the cylinder. Aircan loe-allowed to escape fromr the cylinder by a tap, m, on a pipe leading from the bottom of theopposite side of the cylinder. vBy this means the plate h can be raised or lowered. On the top ofthe plate h is the cuttngapparatus,wl1ich in the arrangement shown in the drawing, is composed of an air-cylinder, n, carried by a plate, nl, which is capable of turning on a'circular boss, formed on the top oi` the plate 7i, so that the cylinder n, may be 'set-at any desired angle to the frame, and fixed in position bybinding-screws n, as shown. Compressed air can be admitted alter= nately to opposite ends ofzthe cylinder fn, by arslide-va'lve actuated by the lever Q. The piston-rod of the cylinder n is, by a cross-head, p, connected with a slide, r, that works in guides formed on the top of the cylinder. The slider carries the cutters that are'to form'l a groove in or above the coal. A. The cutters are by preference iixed to the slide lin the following manner: On the under side of the stems ot' the cutters, teeth are formed 4 v .similar to ratchet-teeth, and on the`top of the slide are corresponding teeth, into which the teeth of the cutterstems enter;4 the stems of the cuttersV are their held down by bolts and nuts. By fastening the vcut-ters in this manner, the cutters canreadily be'removed te be sharpened; they can also be set to project to any desired distance from the end of the sliders, as nearly the whole of thelength of the` slide is furnished with ratchet-teeth,

and the teethon` the cutter-bars can be inserted betweenany of these teeth. On the top ofthe plate 7L are also two wheels s s, carried by stems capable of rising or falling in. vertical guides formed on the top of theplate. One of these wheels is pressed upwards by a spiral spring, t, the other can beset at any desired height by means ofa'set-screw; Y f

When themaohine is at work, air is admitted ilitothe cylinder 7c, to cause the table ,7L to rise and' press the wheels s against the roof of the Working, and the wheels are by preference arranged to run in shallow grooves previously out for them. -'lhe height to which the table h can be raised by the air-cylinder, and consequently the height at which the cuttingapparatus shall work, is' regulated by thev height that the xed wheel s is set above the frame. The other wheels is pressed upwards by-a spiral spring, as above mentioned, in order that both wheels may at all times bear against the roof'v of the working, notwithstanding any irregularities in its surface. 1

After that air has been admitted to the cylinder 17e, the cutters carried by the slidefa are set to work by alternately raising Aand lowering the-valve-lever o, andat'the same time the machine is moved forward by turning one or other of the hand-wheels f. By this means the cutters will be caused to form a groove parallel with the roof of theworkig. The groove may either be in the coal itself', or, as I believe to be preferable, it may be in the narrow sot't layer oi" shale which'is frequently found immediately vabove the vein ot' coal. The cutters are adjusted to work in this layerv by adjusting the height of the wheels .s from thev top of the table t, 'as above `described. When a groove of material is thus removed from above the vein ot' coal, the coal below 'mayin many cases be readily separated into blocks by wedges, commencing to use the wedges near the top of the vein of coal, and gradually working downwards, as the upper part of the vein of coal is removed. Although I prefer.

to arrangethe machine so that it'may out 'a groove close to the roof of the working, yet machines constructed in the manner above described may bo arranged to cut grooves either below the coal or into the coal itself, at any desired height from the bottom of the vein or seam. v

Having thus described the nature @f m'y invention, and the manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim,`is-

The so mounting the cutting-apparatus of' machinery employed in getting coal or other mineral, that the cutting-apparatus may, whilst atvwork, rise or fall'independently of tho truck or-carriage of the machine, substantially as herein described.

Also thevcarryinxg.` the cutting-apparatus on 'the top ofthe plunger of an air-cylinder, carried by the truck of the machine, so that the cutting-apparatus maycut a'groove close up to the roof of the mine, substantially us herein described.

G. E.` DONISTHORPE.

Witnesses:

W.' H. GowLnr, Trios. GnrsDALE, Jr.,

}Bot1t of Leeds, England. 

